·cognitive therapy
with its structured, active styles of intervention;

·neuroscience
with its research on how brain regions influence behavior;

·psychoanalytic theory
with its emphasis on defense mechanisms and unconscious
repetition.

His first book, “Getting the love you want” (1988) presents
a synthesis of these 4 approaches and has a practical
Appendix explaining how to proactively develop one’s couple
without a therapist. It was a best-seller in the US. In
1995, after his second book "Keeping the love you find"
(1992), he published a short article on the essentials of
theory and practice of IRT; one can read its French
translation: see here(the
original in English is unavailable for copyright reasons).

Last but not least, several academic research programs have
been recently launched in the US to measure the
effectiveness of Imago Therapy with couples.